Comics You Should Be Reading: The Walking Dead

There are many, many comic book series that come out every week. It can be hard to decide what to spend your money on when you go to your local comic book shop. Comics You Should Be Reading will give you some highlights of the current comic books in the world that are worth your time.

This Week: The Walking Dead

Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard (since issue 7) have been the creative team for The Walking Dead for over 70 issues.

The Walking Dead is one of the best comic book series ever written and may be the single best zombie story ever told. The Walking Dead answers the question I have always asked after seeing a zombie movie, “What happens to those characters after the credits role?” The Walking Dead shows readers what it would be like to live in a world ruled by zombies. How would it affect people to live with death all around them with no end in sight? People lose hope, lose families, and lose their minds. People try to survive, scrap by with what they can, and learn to live in this new world. Some people just try to live as happily as they can. Others become worse monsters than the zombies ever could be.

The story of The Walking Dead is the story of Rick Grimes. Grimes was a police officer from a small town in Kentucky. The Walking Dead opens with him waking up from a coma in a world that is completely different from the one he used to live in. The story is about Rick trying to live in this new world. Not just survive, but to live there. The core of the story is Rick trying to salvage whatever happiness and normalcy he can. You will see moments of success in his mission and moments of monumental failure. This book is not afraid to show you just how dangerous the new world is. Readers will learn quickly that no one is safe and that zombies aren’t the only things to be afraid of.

If you go to the shop and open up an issue of The Walking Dead, don’t let the black and white pages scare you away. Charlie Adlard’s art is perfectly suited for this book. Zombies look like they are rotting and gross. The violence is beautifully drawn and disturbingly real. Every emotion on the characters’ faces is clearly seen. Scenes with no words work well because Adlard’s faces will show you what the characters are thinking. Even the zombies are distinguished from one another. You will be able to tell if the zombie in front of Rick or the one to the left of him just got an axe in the face.

The Walking Dead is a brilliant accomplishment. For years this comic series has been one of the best on the shelves. Robert Kirkman has been writing a story since 2003 that has been continuously great. That is incredible and cements Kirkman as one of the greats in comic books today. Most comic books are a roller coaster of quality. One of the best things, in my opinion, about comic books is that creative teams on a series change. It is great because there are always different looks and different takes for characters, keeping them fresh. The downside to this system is there is more chance that a creative team that you don’t like will start a book that you read. This means that some people will naturally feel that some arcs are better than others. Even if a creative team stays on a book it is incredible hard to put out an absolutely amazing comic book every month. Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard have been doing it for years.

So next time you walk in (or past) your local comic book shop, don’t overlook The Walking Dead or you will be missing out on one of the most consistently great stories in comics.

About Bobby Gonzalez (nerdygonzo)

I am a 22 year old gamer from Illinois. I love gaming and comic books.

I couldn’t agree more. TWD is definitely one of the best comics on the racks…and this is coming from a die-hard superhero comic fan.

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